


Half of Nothing

by Lobo_Loca



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Creation Myth, Dwarves, Fluff, Gen, Hobbits, Hobbits as a "defective" race, Humor, Kinda, Kinkmeme, One Shot, Protective Yavanna
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:57:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4579818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobo_Loca/pseuds/Lobo_Loca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "Hobbit are indeed, related to Men. Actually, they are the “first” Men- the first try, and a bad one.</p>
<p>Eru doesn't love them, but he did not have heart to destroy them either, no matter if they were not what he was expecting. Instead, he hid them away.</p>
<p>And in the green hills the hobbits learn how to grow and live on their own. Because if your own father doesn't want you, who will?</p>
<p>- Could be super sad, or maybe another Valar adopts them and things get better."</p>
<p>A revised version of an anonymous fill I posted on the kinkmeme. Veered off prompt a bit, focusing more on the Valar than the Hobbits and with added Dwarves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Half of Nothing

Eru looked down at the creatures he had created, lips pressed into a thin line.

They were a first draft admittedly, and small flaws were to be expected and corrected over time as certain traits were bred out through natural selection, but the sheer number of flaws, although individually small…. It would takes an Age, if not longer, for them to be corrected properly and each child—of which these creatures were designed to have many, and perhaps _too_ many—would have be gently tweeked within its mother’s womb and Eru simply did not have the time to turn this passive race of tiny little, big-footed, rotund and simple creatures—almost Elf-like, though half the size and like little children. He had taken to calling them Halflings—into a race worthy of being a mortal power upon Middle-Earth.

It was much easier to just start over from scratch. But as Eru looked upon the sweet, guileless faces of his creations and their endless patience and manners (which he hadn’t intended, but wasn’t much of a flaw), he didn’t have the heart to destroy them, no matter how defunct. Still, as unwanted as they were, these Halfling wouldn’t survive long in this world with their trusting and non-confrontational nature.

Eru enlisted Yavanna, as Queen of the Earth, to help build a sanctuary of fertile hills and valleys for these new, strange little creatures. That, he would realize later, was perhaps his first mistake. His second was not watching her reaction to the Halflings before off-handedly mentioning that he considered the entire race an utter failure, though he didn’t have the heart to put them out of their misery.

Yavanna glared, fierce and scalding, as she advanced on him with a snarl and a threatening finger thrust impetuously in his face—His face! The face of Eru, supreme deity of Arda!

She paid his status no mind as she berated him sharply, “One more unkind word about those beautiful, kind little creatures and I swear that you’re preciously little Elves will have to sustain on pride and what meager game that might be found in their realms! And Halflings! How dare you call such darlings Halfling! They are not half of anything, no matter what imaginary flaws you might have found in them!”

She continued on, and Eru didn’t manage to a word in edgewise during Yavanna’s tirade, nor before she stomped off to shepherd her newfound children into the safety of the newly created Shire. Eru watched her go, speechless in the face of her disregard, and turned to her husband for some show of support.

Aulë shrugged, smirking widely. “She needed a pet project, and I’d rather it be your rejects than trying to elbow her way into my smithy. And it’s kind of entertaining to watch someone take you down a peg.”

“Watch yourself, Smith,” Eru warned, eyes narrowing. “I brought you into this universe, and I can take you out any time I choose.”

“If that rant you just endured was because you disparaged the Halflings, what do you think would happen if you destroyed me?”

The blood drained from Eru's face and he shuddered. "Perhaps you may dwell upon us a little longer."

Aulë laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, reassuring him, “I’m sure she’ll forget all about this soon enough, but I’d be just a little more lenient for the next Age or so where she and her children are concerned.”

“What am I even supposed to call them now?” Eru asked petulantly. “I dubbed them Halflings and Yavanna nearly struck me.”

Aulë snorted. “Like I have any idea. She’ll probably call them something cutesy and ‘darling’—like Hobbits.”

Eru sighed, praying that this would be the end of this madness.

At first, the matter seemed to have been settled as Yavanna fawned over her children, allowing the sprawling hills of the Shire to grown green and bountiful and striking down any threat that attempts to cross the borders of the Hobbits’ home personally.

Eru found it a bit queer that they had settled on a Thain for a leader, rather than a King, but he kept his opinion to himself, lest Yavanna found out.

But Eru was soon preoccupied with perfecting his new race of Men, similar to Hobbits but closer to Elves in size and manner. He didn’t have much leisure to notice that Yavanna too had become enrapt with her children. Nor did he notice immediately that Aulë, growing envious of Yavanna and jealous of her Hobbits, had set his mind to make a race of his own.

The Dwarves he made were hard and unyielding, and so unlike Yavanna's children, except for their size, that it would be mindboggling to see them work in harmony. Yet, while Aulë crafted his children as a people to teach and to love, filled with passion for their craft and the riches of the earth and honor, he also made the Dwarrows fiercely loyal and loving.

The first Dwarrows were placed in Ered Luin, just west of the Shire so that the Hobbits would require less supervision from Yavanna. And, if Aulë selected some Hobbits as the Ones of a few of his Dwarves, well, that was just to facilitate a good community between the two. It had nothing at all to do with the fact he missed Yavanna, and wanted her to remember him when she saw her Hobbits with his Dwarrows.

Of course, the Dwarves were not recognized by Eru and could do nothing without his attention and concentration. When Eru found out, Aulë expected his Dwarrows to be destroyed, and yet they were saved and given life, the Flame Imperishable.

Stunned, he asked, "Why have you spared them? They are no children of yours, and a folly, surely."

Eru gave him an exasperated look. “Because, you hardheaded fool, your wife is cooing over the prospect of Dwobbits, and I, for one, have no wish to endure another tantrum, or to endure the realization of her earlier threats.”

Aulë laughed so hard he cried, and made sure to kiss Yavanna at the next available opportunity. He also didn’t say a word when Yavanna demanded for Eru to make Ents so that the Dwarves didn’t cut down all her trees, though he did whisper an apology later in private, which she laughed off.

“I had planned to ask for Ents long ago, husband,” she told him, wrapped in his embrace as they watched over their children, living in harmony, albeit in near isolation. “Originally to protect my little darlings, but I do believe that your Dwarrows are much better suited for that task. Though I do disapprove of their impact on my groves.”

Aulë wisely didn’t comment, instead pointing out where a Took fauntling and a tiny Durin attempted to escape with a bounty of stolen pies from a matron Hobbit brandishing a rolling pin.


End file.
